Many may argue that the novel To Kill a Mockingbird’s theme could revolve around class others say that it is about the development of the main character, but although these themes are relevant to the novel I think the main focal point is racism. Racism can relatively be found just about anywhere in the book and it helps tie the plot in the novel. This theme could be seen through the people that is in close proximity to her whether it being her neighbor or her family members, also the experiences she faces along the way, and through the overall trial. In the novel, some of her family members can be seen harassing scout, but it doesn’t just stop there even their neighbor would take part in the harassment. As we progress in the novel we will see the affects that this have on the family. All of this will shape how scout’s innocence as a child was forever changed when she was exposed to the people she will interact with, in addition to the trial. In the article by Katherine Henninger called “My Childhood Is Ruined!”: Harper Lee and Racial Innocence”, even though the title doesn’t really relate to the topic of racism all too much the author ties scout’s childlike innocence to the tribulations of how being exposed to racism changes her mentally.
To begin with, the way we see racism is through the
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Mr. Raymond is one of the special characters in the novel that has this since of innocence, in that he is aware of the racism in his county but finds a way around the situation and from the article it explained that “Over the course of the novel Scout, and her readers, are schooled in proper class and race “obliviousness,” which, as a white child, she can then perform and naturalize for those readers. That she succeeds in doing so despite and within “southern darkness” heightens the value of that innocence, and is a major source of Mockingbird’s “life-changing” affects.” (Katherine